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HP Forum Archive 14

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HP 35 Version Red dot How many still "alive" ?
Message #1 Posted by Ronald on 29 Jan 2005, 11:31 a.m.

Hi,

I was wandering how many Original HP 35, version 1, Red Dot would still be around?

I remember to have read some place 10.000 were produced. Is that correct ?

Thank you

Ronald

      
Re: HP 35 Version Red dot How many still "alive" ?
Message #2 Posted by Matthias on 29 Jan 2005, 12:04 p.m.,
in response to message #1 by Ronald

I know about 20 of them which are still alive.... not very much. The oldes is 1143A00357.

Matthias

            
Re: HP 35 Version Red dot How many still "alive" ?
Message #3 Posted by David Smith on 29 Jan 2005, 3:04 p.m.,
in response to message #2 by Matthias

Serial number 00007 sold on Ebay a couple years ago... went for less than $500 if I remember correctly.

      
Re: HP 35 Version Red dot How many still "alive" ?
Message #4 Posted by Wlodek Mier-Jedrzejowicz on 31 Jan 2005, 12:53 a.m.,
in response to message #1 by Ronald

Ronald asked:

"I was wandering how many Original HP 35, version 1, Red Dot would still be around?

I remember to have read some place 10.000 were produced. Is that correct "

I wrote "about 10,000" in my book "A Guide to HP Handheld Calculators and Computers", having been told this number by one of the people who should have known, at HP Corvallis, when they were still designing and making the calculators there. (Yes, I know the HP-35 was a pre-Corvallis product.) It seems about right, but I can not guarantee this number. The book has further details about the different types of "version 1". As I wrote there, most people who have one are aware that they have something special, so I expect that most are still around.

Ronald specifies "Original HP 35, version 1" - do you know of any "fake version 1" units? Has someone been drilling holes in later versions, extending the ON/OFF switches, and sticking red tape to them? :-) Or maybe you mean "Later HP 35 version 1" units - a few HP-35 units were made from remaining parts and presented to HP-35 team members to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the introduction - a very few of these might have been "red dots" if any "red dot" components were still available 5 years later.

The last time I checked, my red-dots still worked :-)

Enjoy your HP-35, but take care of it!

Wlodek

            
Actually, I know of someone who did drill a hole!
Message #5 Posted by Gene on 31 Jan 2005, 7:39 a.m.,
in response to message #4 by Wlodek Mier-Jedrzejowicz

Wlodek wrote: "Has someone been drilling holes in later versions, extending the ON/OFF switches, and sticking red tape to them? :-)"

Gene: I do know of one person who bragged to me that he had figured out how to make a hole in the case with the proper red appearing underneath when turned on. He told me that someone would have to take it apart to tell the difference.

If that sounds dishonest on his part, it was...and the person later turned out to be dishonest generally.

            
Re: HP 35 Version Red dot How many still "alive" ?
Message #6 Posted by Ronald on 31 Jan 2005, 11:41 a.m.,
in response to message #4 by Wlodek Mier-Jedrzejowicz

Hello Wlodek

You are right regarding the number, it was in your book it was mentioned (i have the book and it is a absolute must item have I think for collectors).

I was refering to a HP 35 Calc sold January 18 on Ebay which indicated to be a red dot, but the picture was more or less blurred and the serial number looked high (Serial $ 1302A 85817). On my request no additional pictures were send so I skipped this auction.

Both the starting number 1302 looked out of range and 85817 unit's made seemed also more than I remembered, so my, a little bit leading question: How many real ones.

Ronald

                  
Re: HP 35 Version Red dot How many still "alive" ?
Message #7 Posted by Frank Boehm on 31 Jan 2005, 3:00 p.m.,
in response to message #6 by Ronald

I didn't receive any pictures as well - even though I asked twice. That calc was "fishy" at best.

Actually the molded plastics of post-red-dot calcs had the hole area still visible, so it would be very easy to modify a V2 into a V1. I guess only 1143 USA models with the small serial-number label are genuine; I doubt they made a "5th anniversary model" from spare parts...

                        
Re: HP 35 Version Red dot How many still "alive" ?
Message #8 Posted by Wlodek Mier-Jedrzejowicz on 31 Jan 2005, 8:54 p.m.,
in response to message #7 by Frank Boehm

Yes, the serial number label is the clincher for a real "red-dot", as it is harder to forge than the hole. I have not seen or heard of any red-dots with date codes above 1143. My guess would be that a little more than half the original 10,000 have survived, say 6,000 - and of 7 I have seen in the past few years, 6 were working, so (again at a very rough guess) we might expect there to be around 5,000 still around _and_ working. Good luck getting a real one!

                              
Re: HP 35 Version Red dot How many still "alive" ?
Message #9 Posted by Ronald on 1 Feb 2005, 2:12 p.m.,
in response to message #8 by Wlodek Mier-Jedrzejowicz

Hello Wlodek,

Seems like a fair guess, maybe a bit less.

Thank you.

Ronald

                                    
Re: HP 35 Version Red dot How many still "alive" ?
Message #10 Posted by Wlodek Mier-Jedrzejowicz on 2 Feb 2005, 10:02 p.m.,
in response to message #9 by Ronald

Hi Ronald,

You're welcome! But I wonder if there is someone lurking here who could tell us more ;-)

BTW, thanks to those who mentioned it for your kind comments about my "Guide".


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